On the Good Samaritan – What Does This Mean?

Dear saints, you do not need to be a Christian, or even a Theist, to know about the Good Samaritan. Many people think they know the parable and its meaning. We have organizations, nursing homes, charities, hospitals and other groups who take on the name. Many of these entities do a lot of good work. They do a lot to love and serve their communities. But if you asked many of those who work and volunteer at those places, they would probably tell the meaning of the parable is to simply love and serve your neighbor. Now, they would be telling you to do a good thing, but they would also be giving you a moralizing and Law-based meaning. They are missing the point of the parable.

The reason for this is because many do not realize what the context for the parable is and why our Lord tells it. It is not just a moral story about treating your neighbor well. It is theologically deep and meant to draw a man to trust in Jesus. So, let us jump in, shall we?

Jesus sent out seventy-two men in pairs to preach about Him before he came to that city or town or village. When they returned, they were excited because even the demons were subject to them in Jesus’ name. The passage that bridges the return of the seventy-two and our parable is just as important. Jesus gives thanks to God that what he calls the little children are the ones who see and understand rather than the wise and understanding. He says to his disciples, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

The prophets and kings of old heard God’s promises. They heard and believed the Gospel. But they did not get to see it. The disciples get to see Jesus with their eyes and hear him with their ears. They get to see and hear the Gospel. The ancients saw the shadow; the disciples see the real thing and hear the details.

Today we hear a lawyer stand up to test Jesus. “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Already there is a problem. What does one do to inherit eternal life? The question does not make sense. You inherit something not because of anything you do. You inherit something because of what and who you are.

Jesus knows the lawyer is asking the wrong question and that he is being tested by him. But Jesus also cares for and loves this lawyer. And so, he engages the question but does not answer it. Instead, he asks his own question: “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” The lawyer answers rightly. He gives the correct summary of the Mosaic Law. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus affirms the answer. “Do this, and you will live.”

And it is there that the lawyer knows he is in trouble. He knows he has not fulfilled the requirements of the Law and its summary that he just gave. And so, he looks for a way out. If he can prove that his neighbor is limited; that he can dictate who his neighbor is…perhaps he can ‘do this, and live.’ Perhaps he can find himself justified based on what he has done. And so, when he asks Jesus who his neighbor is, Jesus responds with the parable.

The scenario is not farfetched. There were dangerous roads and routes then just as there are now. An unnamed man goes down the mountain from Jerusalem to Jericho and is beaten and robbed. He is left for dead. And as he lays there, a priest also comes down along that way. He sees him, goes to the other side of the road, and continues on his way. A Levite does the same.

But then an outsider comes. A Samaritan. An outcast and hated man. This man stops and checks on the half-dead man. He has compassion on him. He cares for him, puts him on his animal, and bore the burden of the journey to an inn. There he cares for this stranger overnight and then gives the innkeeper two days’ wages to care for the beaten man, promising to come back and pay whatever bill the stranger might incur.

It is at this point of many sermons that the priest and Levite are typically beaten up on. They are shunned because they did not come to the beaten man’s aid. I am not going to do that. Instead, I want to ask, “Why didn’t they do anything to help him?” The answer begins with the context of the lawyer’s test. He is an expert in the Law. He knows it back to front. And he looks to it for his right standing before God.

And so, he tests Jesus with his misguided question. Jesus turns the tables on him and causes him to feel the burden of the Law upon his shoulders. This is because the Law was never meant to save anyone. It came 430 years after God’s promise and covenant with Abraham. That promise is where salvation lies. Not from the law which was given because of sin. This is we heard from St. Paul. The Law does not and did not replace God’s promise of the Offspring. The promise of Christ.

So, when the lawyer asks what he must do to be saved, Jesus has him answer using what the lawyer thought the standard was: The Law. And by rightly confessing that he was to love the Lord his God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mid and to love his neighbor as himself, he knows he had just condemned himself.

At a minimum, his instincts tell him he has not loved his neighbor as himself. And so, if he can limit who his neighbor is, perhaps he can again trust in his righteousness through the Law. This is why Jesus mentions the priest and Levite. They are the keepers, performers, and protectors of the Law. They ensure purity. And so, the priest and Levite have a code they must live by. If they are traveling along that road to perform a duty, they cannot touch a dead body, become unclean, and still perform their duty. The man looks like he may be dead. Thus, they walk away from where he is so that they do not become unclean. Or, maybe they just finished serving and they are anxious to return to their families. If they were to touch a dead body, they would be unclean and thus be delayed in their return to the families.

They do not help the man because they cannot. And that is the point. The Law is powerless to save unless you keep it perfectly from fertilization, and, well, good luck with that. The priest and Levite can do nothing but pass the man by. But the Samaritan is not under the Mosaic Law. He is an outsider and despised. The Samaritan has mercy and aches for the battered man.

The compassion the Samaritan has on the beaten man has both a physical and monetary cost. He puts himself in danger to attend the man. After all, this could have been a ruse and the beaten man only acting. And so, putting himself in danger, he uses oil and wine, the day’s version of antibiotic and cleaning agents, to clean up the injured man. He bears the burden of lifting the man onto his animal and walking rather than riding to town. He bears the burden of caring for the man overnight.

And then he bears the cost of paying for the man’s night, two additional nights, and whatever the man would rack up in costs between the time he leaves and comes back. All this is done without checking to make sure this beaten man is honorable. Is worthy or trustworthy. The Samaritan simply does it for this stranger.

Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? The lawyer asks who his neighbor is. Jesus shows what it is to be a neighbor. And the lawyer must answer that the Samaritan, the one who showed him mercy was the neighbor. The one who, no questions asked, saved the half-dead man.

The lawyer should realize that he is the beaten and half-dead man. He has fallen into the hands of his own sin and the devil, who have beaten him, stripped him and left them for dead. But then, the Samaritan comes: Jesus. The Son of God, who is rejected and seen as an outcast. He comes to be the merciful neighbor of the beaten and abused man, the lawyer, and you.

That is the point of the parable. Because of sin, we are born worse than half-dead. We are fully dead spiritually. We have already been killed by sin. But Jesus has compassion. He comes to you. He bears your burden. He pours water, and sometimes, oil upon you in baptism. He gives you his blood under the wine in the Holy Supper. He fully pays for you. He puts and keeps you in his care. Put simply, he shows you mercy.

The message of the Good Samaritan is not, “Try harder,” or, “Be nicer.” The message of the Good Samaritan is you are condemned under the Law. You are beaten up by the Law. And Jesus comes and rescues you. Our wonderful and merciful neighbor saves us by dying in our place on the cross. And we receive that mercy daily.

The parable ends with Jesus telling the lawyer to “go, and do likewise.” Jesus tells us to do the same. Not to justify ourselves, like the lawyer sought to do, but because we have received mercy. And because we have received mercy, we want others to receive that same mercy. Let us always cling to Jesus, our Merciful Neighbor. And may we also show mercy as we bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Amen.

Rev. Brent Keller
Peace Lutheran Church
Alcester, SD